第376章

第376章thisletterhadnotyetbeengiventothetsar，whenbarclay，atdinneroneday，informedbolkonskythathismajestywouldbegraciouslypleasedtoseeprinceandreyinperson，toaskhimsomequestionsaboutturkey，andthatprinceandreywastopresenthimselfatbennigsen’squartersatsixo’clockintheevening.

thatdaynewshadreachedthetsar’squartersofafreshadvanceonnapoleon’spartthatmightberegardedasmenacingthearmy—newsthatturnedoutinthesequeltobefalse.andthatmorningcolonelmichaudhadaccompaniedthetsaronatourofinspectionaboutthedrissafortifications；andhadtriedtoconvincethetsarthatthefortifiedcamp，constructedonpfuhl’stheory，andhithertoregardedasthechefd’？uvreoftacticalscience，destinedtooverthrownapoleon—thatthatcampwasasenselessabsurditythatwouldleadtothedestructionoftherussianarmy.

princeandreyarrivedatbennigsen’squarters，asmallmanor-houseontheverybankoftheriver.neitherbennigsennorthetsarwasthere；buttchernishev，thetsar’saide-de-camp，receivedbolkonsky，andinformedhimthatthetsarhadsetoffwithgeneralbennigsenandmarcheseitomakehissecondinspectionthatdayofthefortificationsofthedrissacamp，oftheutilityofwhichtheywerebeginningtoentertaingravedoubts.

tchernishevsatinthewindowoftheouterroomwithafrenchnovel.thisroomhadonceprobablybeenthemainhall；therewasstillanorganinit，onwhichwerepiledrugsofsomesort，andinthecorneroftheroomwasafoldingbedsteadbelongingtobennigsen’sadjutant.theownerofthebedstead，too，wasthere.apparentlyexhaustedbyworkorfestivities，hesatdozingonthefoldedbed.twodoorsledfromtheroom：onestraightinfrontopeningintothedrawing-room，anotherontherightopeningintothestudy.fromthefirstdoorcamethesoundofvoicesspeakinggermanandoccasionallyfrench.inthedrawing-roomtherewasbeingheld，bythetsar’sdesire，notamilitarycouncil—thetsarlovedtohavethingsvague—butameetingofafewpersons，whoseopinionshewishedtohearinthepresentdifficultposition.itwasnotamilitarycouncil，butasortofcouncilfortheelucidationofcertainquestionsforthebenefitofthetsarpersonally.tothissortofsemi-councilhadbeenbiddentheswedishgeneral，armfeldt，thegeneralonthestaffwoltzogen，wintzengerode（whomnapoleonhadcalledarenegadefrenchsubject），michaud，toll，countstein—bynomeansamilitaryman—andfinallypfuhl，whowas，soprinceandreyhadheard，lachevilleouvrièreofeverything.princeandreyhadtheopportunityofgettingagoodviewofhim，aspfuhlcameinshortlyafterhisarrivalandstoppedforaminutetosayafewwordstotchernishevbeforegoingonintothedrawing-room.

atthefirstglancepfuhl，inhisbadlycutuniformofarussiangeneral，whichlookedoutofkeeping，likesomefancydresscostumeonhim，seemedtoprinceandreylikeafamiliarfigure，thoughhehadneverseenhimbefore.hewasofthesameorderasweierother，andmack，andschmidt，andmanyothergermangenerals，menoftheory，whomprinceandreyhadseeninthewarof1808；buthewasamoreperfecttypeoftheclassthananyofthem.suchatypicalgermantheorist，combininginhimselfallthecharacteristicsofthoseothergermans，princeandreyhadneverseenbefore.